MORE THAN CONQUERORS
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
INTRO
Good morning! My name is Ryan, I’m one of the pastors here at Georgianna.
It’s so good to be with you in worship today…
[MENTION LIVE STREAM AT 9:45]
You may notice that Corky and Deedie are away today… Over the weekend Corky was serving as Georgianna’s pastor supporting both the Wallace and Bennett families as Michael and Emily got married!
And before I go any further… can we just talk about how awesome this youth band has been???
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And we have just returned from an amazing week at camp… my words will absolutely NOT do it justice… but let me offer a few...
I wrote this in the Hook email a few days ago and I’ll say it again.
Your teenagers worshipped and prayed and competed and studied scripture and played games and encouraged one another and avoided sleep like it was their JOB this past week.
Lots of campers claimed that this was the best camp ever.
I’ve only been to 3 of them… so I really can’t say… but yes, yes it was :)
It was the best camp ever.
[MAYBE HAVE PEOPLE STAND IF THEY HAVEN’T ALREADY?]
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Our camp theme was Romans 8:37
Romans 8:37 (NIV)
37 ...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
They saw and heard and felt that truth over and over again.
And we had many students take on and declare that truth as their own by the end of the week. Praise God!
ME
ME
So I grew up in the church… I can’t really remember a time when church was not a part of my life or my family’s life.
And that is wonderful and I’m grateful for my family and my church experience.
But if there is a downside to it, it’s that sometimes things become so overly familiar that it’s hard not to go on auto-pilot when you hear certain stories or certain songs or certain verses of scripture.
Romans 8:37 is one that I have heard countless times in my life… and it is beautiful.
But if I was to be honest I sometimes have this unfortunate habit of just glossing over the things that I think I know already.
What often happens is that I’ll find myself reading through Romans chapter 8 and then I’ll get to a phrase like “in all these things” and then I’ll just breeze right over the rest.
WE
WE
I’m sure this happens to you as well.
Maybe you’ve never heard Romans 8:37 before… but you probably know what this is like.
When was the last time you recited the Pledge of Allegiance and you paid attention to all the words?
I usually just say it from memory… without ever giving a real thought to the Republic for which the American flag stands!
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When was the last time you sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and thought about the words you were singing?
Did you know that that song says, “I don’t care if I ever get back”???
Are you also aware that you usually watch a baseball game in 90 degree heat and humidity???
That LAST thing I want is to never go back home to my air conditioning and padded seats.
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When was the last time you were in the middle of “Humpty Dumpty” and thought… well that’s a little dark.
It’s nursery rhyme about an egg that falls to its death.
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And I hate it, but … sometimes I read scripture this way.
I’ve heard about David and Goliath and I’ve heard about the Good Samaritan and I’ve heard about Jesus’ birth… and so I think I know it already.
And if I’m not careful… these stories and scriptures become so 2 dimensional to me… and I’m losing the substance because my familiarity keeps me from diving deep.
But not today.
This may be your first experience with Romans 8 or maybe you’ve heard it a thousand times… but I want to resist the temptation to think we already know it… and be open to what the Holy Spirit may be revealing to us today.
OPENING PRAYER
OPENING PRAYER
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight… O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
GOD
GOD
The apostle Paul writes a letter to the church in Rome… it’s a church that is divided, primarily by 2 different groups of people… those who were Jewish and those who weren’t.
And this is a pretty big theme in the New Testament.
As the message of Jesus reaches beyond the Jews… beyond those they had always thought were God’s chosen people… how are they now to relate to these new converts?
Do they have all the same requirements and rules?
Do they get all the same benefits… even though the Jews were God’s people all along?
It’s the classic “we were here first” argument, right?
This is why Jesus has parables about hired workers arriving at different points during the day.
This is why elsewhere Paul talks about branches that break off of an olive tree and new ones that can be grafted on.
And Paul writes to this church with a mixture of both… pleading for unity and putting both camps on equal ground.
And what makes them one… and what makes us one… is not a long list of requirements… as many of them would have thought
It’s not agreeing on everything… like they wanted to… like we often want to.
What makes them one… what makes us one… is believing and following Jesus.
Following Jesus even when it means walking in tension with this world… because the way of Jesus is not how this world operates.
And here is where we land in the middle of Romans chapter 8… go ahead and go there with me (Bibles or phones)
If and when the tension happens… if and when the suffering happens...
Paul writes in verse 18...
Romans 8:18 (NIV)
18 ...that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
And when the suffering happens… he writes again in verse 28…
Romans 8:28 (NIV)
28in all things God works for the good of those who love him…
PASSAGE
PASSAGE
Alright let’s go to verse 31 together.
With the suffering… but also the glory and the good in mind
Paul writes:
Romans 8:31–39 (NIV)
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
[LET’S STOP RIGHT THERE FOR JUST A MOMENT. SPEAKING OF THINGS THAT WE SOMETIMES READ OVER… DID YOU REALIZE THAT JESUS IS PRAYING FOR YOU??? JUST LET THAT BLOW YOUR MIND FOR JUST A MINUTE]
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
[PAUL IS QUOTING A PSALM HERE… IT’S A PRAYER ABOUT WHAT IT’S LIKE TO FEEL LIKE YOU’RE DOING THE RIGHT THING AND EVEN STILL…
EVEN STILL… THERE IS SUFFERING]
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
REFLECTIONS
REFLECTIONS
This is really a beautiful passage of scripture.
There is a profound faith expressed in Paul’s words here.
I read through it and I do have some questions… but I’m also struck by the depth of the love and salvation that is expressed here.
And I miss so much when I just read right over it… like I already know what it says because I’ve heard it so much.
And we miss so much when we simply take verse 37 (that we are more than conquerors) out of its context and out of this full picture.
This is why we constantly talk in our Vineyard Bible studies about avoiding this temptation to just read individual verses out of context.
There is a fullness here that says, yes I am more than a conqueror… but it goes on to say that “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
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Let me tell you the problem with a 2 dimensional… out of context reading of Romans 8:37:
I see that it says that I’m more than a conqueror… but what about when I’m not?
What about when I feel defeated?
If I’m more than a conqueror then why do I still struggle with anxiety or depression?
If I’m more than a conqueror then why does my family still deal with addiction?
If I’m more than a conqueror then why did my loved one die… even when I prayed for a miracle?
What about when you don’t feel like much of a conqueror?
What about when you just feel defeated?
There’s GOT to be something more… because if I stop at verse 37… then I’m tempted to think that what Paul is writing is just not true.
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You all may be aware that I was a Worship Pastor for several years… and when you do that job for a while you get familiar with a LOT of church songs.
And this may shock you, but not all worship songs are my favorite.
Now we all have preferences… I have heard many of them. Nick has heard them. Corky has heard them.
But sometimes it’s more than just taste. Sometimes it’s about the message of the song itself.
One song in particular that I always struggled with (and I’m sorry if this is your favorite) is an old praise song that says this:
Every day with You, Lord
Is sweeter than the day before
Every day with You, Lord
Is sweeter than the day before
Every morning I will worship
Every evening I'll adore
'Cause every day with You is sweeter
Sweeter than the day before
Now, I don’t know what maypole they have been dancing around… but, honestly, that has not been my experience.
Because you can follow Jesus and marriages may still fail.
You can follow Jesus and you might still lose your job.
A few months ago there are Jesus following people on our prayer list who just delivered a stillborn child.
I guarantee you that the day before you found out that the baby wasn’t going to survive… that day was actually the sweeter one.
What do you do with Romans 8:37 when you feel like life has beaten you? When you don’t feel like the conqueror… you feel conquered?
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The book of Romans is considered by many to be Paul’s most comprehensive work about what belief in Jesus means and looks like.
It’s 16 chapters in total and today we find ourselves toward the end of chapter 8… pretty much at the center.
Romans 8:37 is pretty much at the center of the center. Let me explain what I mean by that...
As people have studied ancient writings we have realized that the Biblical authors would often structure their writing in very intentional ways...
Ways that aren’t always obvious to us now.
Paul writes that we are “more than conquerors” at the dead center of a passage that he has carefully crafted.
And what you’ll notice is that one side of this passage is a mirror image of the other.
In verse 35 Paul asks a rhetorical question… “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” The obvious answer is that nothing will.
The rest of 35 and 36 are things that we might THINK would separate us.
We are more than conquerors in 37
And then here’s the mirror image… verse 38 begins a long list of things that we might THINK would separate us…
and then we end with “nothing will separate from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here’s the point:
That we are “more than conquerors” Is the very intentional focal point of a literary structure… that just so happens to be right in the middle of Paul’s magnum opus of Romans.
It is at the center of the center.
THIS. IS. IMPORTANT.
There is something crucial… there is something fundamental here in terms of what belief in Jesus means.
APPLICATIONS
APPLICATIONS
So we know this is important… but we also know that we don’t always feel like conquerors.
I hung out with teenagers all week, so I learned a few new slang words… and I’ll tell you… I don’t always feel like I’m slaying it. :)
Let’s look at these verses again, because something happens as you move through it. Something else that my brain overlooks… because I think I know it already…
Verse 35 says,
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
Here’s the reality… these weren’t things that the Roman church would definitely have had victory over. All of these things, trouble, hardship, persecution, nakedness, danger, sword… these were all VERY real threats.
And if you’ve read the NT and you know the history around it and after it… you know that the early church did NOT always conquer these things.
And so if any one of these things has happened to you then how can you be more than a conqueror?
It kind of looks like you have lost already.
And again… YOU may feel like you’re losing in this life.
To everyone else “Victory in Jesus” may be their favorite hymn… but you’re not sure it applies to you!
Here’s what Paul is saying… if and maybe WHEN these awful things happen to you… you are still more than a conqueror.
WHY?
Look at the list that follows…
Paul is convinced…
Romans 8:38–39 (NIV)
38 that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Do you notice any thing different about the first list and the second list...
Between verse 35 and verses 38 & 39?
One is about a whole bunch of really unfortunate things that might happen to us in this life.
BUT…
But the other is about cosmic and everlasting promises that our VERY ETERNITY is STILL secure in the love of God.
Here’s the crucial thing… here’s the fundamental thing...
We saw it already… verse 18 said that
our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
You see, for Paul, following Jesus meant that there was a clear, thick dividing line between the things of this world and the things of eternity.
And one of those was infinitely MORE important than the other.
Our sufferings, WHEN THEY HAPPEN, are not worth comparing to the glory ahead of us.
Let me say it differently:
***Your eternity is far more important than your present circumstance.
***Your eternity is far more important than your present circumstance.
It’s far more important for you to be a conqueror in the Kingdom of God, than for you to win every battle here.
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This reminds me of a story about Jesus… where one of these things is clearly more important than the other.
The books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell the story of Jesus healing a paralyzed man. But in every story… before he heals him… he tells the man that his sins are forgiven.
In the story the friends of this man go to incredible lengths to get this guy in front of Jesus… and they’re hoping for a miracle.
And so here this guy is, in front of Jesus, on a mat because his legs don’t work… clearly with an obvious need.
And Jesus tells him that his sins are forgiven.
And I can imagine the guy… still lying on his mat… like, “Yes, thank you… um… is there anything else you’d like to do?”
***But Jesus knew that his eternity was far more important than his present circumstance.
Jesus knows that it would be better to be a righteous man on a mat than a broken, sinful man who happens to have 2 good legs.
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We might not always defeat the physical, material threats that are right in front of us…
Blessings in this world are just that… they are BLESSINGS!
Defeat in this world might happen. It might be discouraging to hear that this promise may not always apply to our lives on this side of Heaven…
But honestly... that would cheapen it, right? That would make it far too small.
If the promise to be victorious is just meant for this one life… then where does that leave our eternity?
but it’s the spiritual, cosmic forces and opponents that have been MORE THAN CONQUERED
***Your eternity is far more important than your present circumstance.
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There’s this other crucial, fundamental thing happening here in Paul’s masterpiece of Romans.
It’s another verse we’ve already seen:
Verse 28
Romans 8:28 (NIV)
2we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him...
This is another verse that may frustrate us when we aren’t able to see the good that God is working.
Author and theologian NT Wright said it this way:
***“For the people of God, suffering was not just something from which God would deliver, but something as a result of which God would deliver...”
Let me try it another way...
GOD CAN DELIVER YOU FROM SUFFERING… BUT GOD CAN ALSO USE SUFFERING TO DELIVER.
Now… let me just acknowledge what many of us might be thinking...
I can get behind the idea that my life might not be perfect and easy… but my eternity is more important.
But this one is a bit tougher to get excited about.
GOD CAN DELIVER YOU FROM SUFFERING… BUT GOD CAN ALSO USE SUFFERING TO DELIVER.
But think about this with me… I would imagine that many of us are here because we want to be more like Jesus.
Now… think of Jesus… think of where His ministry took Him as I read that point one more time.
GOD CAN DELIVER FROM SUFFERING… BUT GOD CAN ALSO USE SUFFERING TO DELIVER.
There is a truth here that we see throughout scripture.
We see it in Jesus.
We see it in the story of Joseph back in Genesis. He’s sold into slavery by his brothers… takes this long journey to Egypt, rises up in the ranks… and ends up being the source of his family’s deliverance.
And Joseph tells his brothers:
Genesis 50:20 (NIV)
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good…
it sounds so much like Paul… many years later.
GOD CAN DELIVER YOU FROM SUFFERING… BUT GOD CAN ALSO USE SUFFERING TO DELIVER.
Or how about the story of the early church… when a follower of Jesus named Stephen suffers and is executed…
and in Acts chapter 8 it says that persecution breaks out… and the apostles stay in Jerusalem and everyone else scatters to Judea and Samaria...
And it seems like defeat and it seems like the church has been conquered and scattered… until you remember what Jesus told them in the first place
He told them they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem… and Judea… and Samaria…
And here’s something fun… what Jesus told them in Acts 1:8… actually happens in Acts 8:1… crazy!
GOD CAN DELIVER YOU FROM SUFFERING… BUT GOD CAN ALSO USE SUFFERING TO DELIVER.
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In the late 2nd century there was an early church father named Tertullian…
I know… he just looks like a barrel of laughs
Tertullian reflects back on the persecution and martyrdom that the early church has experienced and he writes:
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
Meaning that as more Christians stood faithful even in the face of death… onlookers were inspired by this.
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Paul’s own circumstances reveal this truth.
Paul has been tortured and shipwrecked and gone hungry and thirsty and gone without sleep… and of course ended up in prison.
And what did prison do? Gave him time to write… and contribute letters upon letters to people and to churches then… and to people and churches now.
GOD CAN DELIVER YOU FROM SUFFERING… BUT GOD CAN ALSO USE SUFFERING TO DELIVER.
WE
WE
So moment of honesty here… I wanted to bring Romans 8:37 to us today because I really wanted to bring a bit of camp this morning.
And so I dug into this passage to see where it took me.
Honestly, it took me into deeper waters than I expected.
About how we won’t always conquer every situation in this lifetime… and maybe we won’t always see the full picture in this lifetime.
And I want you to hear this today… your life here and now DOES matter.
Just because we have this really important eternal aspect to our faith in Jesus… doesn’t mean that life this side of Heaven isn’t meaningful and isn’t good.
On the contrary, when God gave humanity life He said it was VERY good.
Here’s where I’m at today…
We are about something much bigger than us… much bigger than this life...
You were made for eternity.
There are times when you don’t feel like a conqueror.
There are times when you feel defeated.
This is not just a Bible truth… this is a truth of humanity.
Whether you’re a person of faith or not… none of get to skate through life.
We live in a broken world… don’t be surprised when it shows itself to you.
And WHEN you don’t feel like that conqueror… this doesn’t have to be a crisis of faith for you.
When you feel like you have lost… know that there is this eternal… most important thing can’t be taken away from you.
Because...
Romans 8:38–39 (NIV)
38 I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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When you read on you find Paul at the beginning of Romans chapter 9… and he seems just brokenhearted...
He’s brokenhearted because Paul himself is Jewish and it’s his own people… they are the ones struggling to get it.
He says,
Romans 9:4-5 (NIV)
Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah…
And he just wants them to get it.
There is this huge truth… this big reality out there that they are missing.
And I can feel Paul’s heart as I read this!
You’ve heard me say this before… I want this for you… I want this for us… I want this for our friends and families and our community.
We were made for something bigger than this… we are a part of something bigger than us.
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So when we sacrificially give… when we take a week of personal vacation to go to youth camp…
When we go to House of Hope and sweat buckets in the Florida sun...
When we forgive those who have wronged us...
When we give the benefit of the doubt...
When we pray for people we don’t always like...
and when we stand strong in our sufferings…
It is because we know that eternity is more important than this present circumstance
and because we know that through our sacrifice and sufferings… we may be a part of God’s deliverance.
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In this life you might not always feel like more than a conqueror… but here’s how I know Paul’s words are true:
When you live for eternity… everything is more.
You have a God who can do exceedingly MORE than we can ask or imagine.
You have abundant life.
You have the hope of the world.
You have grace, freely given.
You have unfailing love.
And you are MORE than a conqueror.
CLOSING PRAYER
CLOSING PRAYER
Who You are, who we are, who You’ve called us to be…
BENEDICTION
BENEDICTION
I just want to make sure we all got this...
Heaven joins in with a glorious sound
And the great cloud
Of witnesses all gather ‘round
‘Cause the ones that were lost are finally found
The Father is welcoming
This is our homecoming
Church… we were made for more than this. We were created for eternity.
So here’s what we do with that. We live our lives as if it was for something bigger than ourselves.
Because it is.
And even if we don’t win EVERY battle in this life… we are MORE than conquerors
Because our eternity is far more important than our present circumstance.